Orphan
by Kouzumi93
Summary: My name is Matsumoto Rangiku. Welcome to the tale of my short life, painful, yet quick death and strange afterlife. AU; Origin Story
1. Prologue

So...I'm not entirely sure where the idea for this story came from. I have a document on my computer where I type up plans for stories [that never get written], and I found this one on there. I don't even remember this idea, but I liked it, so I wrote it out and it looks pretty damned good. It'll probably only be a four- or fiveshot at most, so it won't be too awful long. This is to keep me from losing my interest in it, as well as to make it a little more interesting, as I've never done anything more than a oneshot or less than...ten chapters.

Review it and let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. Never have, never will.

Orphan

By Kouzumi93

Chapter 1: Prologue

I have no parents. At least, not anymore. But ever since I can remember, I've lived in an orphanage. It's not even that great of an orphanage. There's only enough room to house maybe three or four orpans at most, but they have upwards of eight of us crammed in the small building at one time. The number of residents constantly fluctuates, what with some dying from illnesses or running away, and then there were always kids arriving from the street and such.

This is the year 1879. I'm seven years old, and I'm not particularly sure of exactly what's been going on around the world. Japan is undergoing many changes due to the shift in the government, but that's about all I know. Those who take care of us orphans feel that we're too incompetent and unimportant to have a need to know about what is going on. That doesn't mean that we don't overhear little snippets of conversations here and there, but they're never enough to piece anything together. In fact, those snippets that we hear are the only reason that we know about the reactions to the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate. Not that many of us were born during that era.

It is rather rough here. While everyone is friends with everyone else, it's not because we all get along, as we don't all of the time. We've banded together in hopes of having something solid to cling onto in this world full of uncertainties at every turn. The only downfall of the friendship method is that we usually suffer minor symptoms of depression when someone dies or runs away.

Run away.

I don't think I'll ever understand why anyone ran away from this place. Running away from here is like slowly killing oneself, as life on the streets is a hell of a lot worse than living in an orphanage. It's not like someone is just going to take in some random, stray child from the streets. The orphanage is surely not the best place to be, but at least we have shelter and food, albeit the fact that the food can be rather scarce at times.

None of us have any possessions to call our own, with the exception of our names, but even those don't belong to everyone. Some orphans arrive here without a name, age or origin, so the caretaker gives them only a name, but only a first. Last names belong only to those who had arrived here with them.

They include me. I am one of the privileged ones who has both a first and last name. From what I've been told by the caretaker and those who brought me here, my parents died less than a year after I was born, so I was brought to the orphanage once their death was made known. I don't know very much about my parents, except that my father had once been a Samurai. But the Samurai class has been eliminated recently. That is one of the events that had happened that I overheard between some of the neighbours.

Oh, I suppose this is the point of my story in which I should introduce myself. Because there won't be much of a break after this for me to speak casually.

My name is Matsumoto Rangiku.

Welcome to the tale of my short life, painful, yet quick death and strange afterlife.

* * *

So it's...erm...rather short...But this is the shortest chapter of them all, I swear! I have to say though, I'm relatively disappointed with the length, because it looked oh-so-much longer in my notebook. And I have teeny-tiny handwriting, too.

I really hope you enjoyed the prologue, and I look forward to seeing you in the next chapter!

Review please! I would very much appreciate it, and then I'll know that I at least have an audience before the next chapter pops up. One review at least would be very nice! I'm curious about the interest level for this.


	2. An Average Day

The length of this story is officially going to be four chapters, and the whole thing _should_ be posted by the twelfth. I want to get chapter four posted on the eleventh, just cause I update at least one thing on the eleventh per year. Care to guess why?

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's not quite as long as I'd hoped (again), but it looks like chapter four will be pretty nicely sized, so hopefully that'll make up for all of these short chapters.

P.S. There are numerous OCs in here, but they won't be playing very large roles.

Disclaimer: Still don't own Bleach.

Orphan

By Kouzumi93

Chapter 2: An Average Day

"Matsumoto-san!"

I look up to see a dark-haired girl running towards me. We were scrubbing the hardwood floors of our shabby two-story building as we did every week, but I suppose it didn't dawn on her right that moment what would happen when you add water and hardwood flooring, as her bare feet came in contact with the water and she slipped and fell.

"What is it, Mika-san?" I ask as she picks herself back up.

Mika is a short girl of about nine. Her eyes are a reddish-brown and her hair is so dark that it's almost black. She used to be on the chubby side when she arrived, but a few years here have really thinned her out, perhaps for the better.

"Have you seen Hideo-kun anywhere?" She asks, rather frantically.

I stop cleaning to stop for a moment. Hideo Ryou-kun is a black-haired, blue-eyed boy who has been here for only two months. He's thirteen, the oldest, and he has a rather aggressive personality, although we think that is due to his parents dying while he is old enough to remember them.

I realize that I haven't seen him at all today.

"No, Mika-san. The last I saw him was last night before we went to sleep." I reply calmly. "Why?"

"Because I haven't seen him either, and I asked Neko-chan and Ri-san about him, but neither of them have seen him either."

Neko-chan and Ri-san are, of course, only nicknames. Neko-chan is a boy of only five who has chocolate brown hair, green eyes, and loves cats. Hence Neko-chan. His real name is Hanachi Miiro, but the only one who calls him that is the caretaker, but only when he bothers to speak to us.

Ri-san is ten years old with orange hair and ice blue eyes, and we call her Ri-san because it's short for Makioru Rinako, a name she's quite far from being fond of. We're not so sure why she doesn't like it, but it seems to be a touchy subject for her, so none of us bring it up.

"Neither of them saw him?" I ask, incredulous.

"Neither. And Neko-chan even shares a room with him!"

"Did Neko-chan notice anything off this morning?"

"He said Hideo-kun wasn't there when he woke up."

"But he was here last night, wasn't he?"

"Yeah. I also talked to Takahashi-kun and he said that he heard something bumping around in the night, but it was too dark in the room, so he couldn't see anything."

"And after that no one has seen Hideo-kun..." I trail off, having an idea of what happened. "He's gone, then." I had meant it as a question, but it came out sounding like a statement.

"It might seem so..." Mika sighs.

She has a fondness for Hideo-kun because he reminds her of her older brother. Their appearances are similar, their ages are close, and their behaviour and attitudes have some similarities to one another. It doesn't surprise me that she looks up to him so much, since her brother is no longer around. He left a year ago to go see if he could find work, despite his youth. He said he would send for Mika once he got enough money to support them both.

I wonder, though, if Hideo-kun knows how much Mika had admires him. Probably not, but I'll never find out. Because he's gone now, and it doesn't look like he'll be coming back any time soon, if ever at all.

Now Mika appears to be sad. I suppose that I had been her last hope regarding Hideo-kun's whereabouts, and I had let her down. Not that I had intended to do so, but I have, and I feel terrible about it. But I would probably feel so much worse if I had lied to her.

Suddenly, I hear footsteps thundering in the corridor. The hallway turns into another one at the end behind me, so that is the only place that the person could be coming from. I quickly pick up my scrubbing brush and hurry back to work while Mika rushes off, not slipping on the wet floor this time, so as not to get in trouble for not working.

I hear the person coming closer, and I brace myself to be berated for not being as far along in the cleaning as I should. We are taught from day one to work swiftly, silently and diligently, so slow workers are frowned upon. It's a good thing that most everyone is a fast learner.

The owner of the footsteps rounds the corner and I glare daggers at them. There is Iwazaki Mihara with a large grin upon her face. She always does that. She'll sneak up on people to scare them or she'll imitate the sounds that Nakamura-san makes when he's checking up on us. And Mihara always takes such pleasure in our fear.

"Mihara, what are you doing?" I ask, rather annoyed.

"Nothing really. I just heard the sound of some slackers."

"Psh. If we were slacking off, what do you call what you're doing right now?"

"Enforcing the law." She smiles smugly.

"Ha! Not a chance. You're just as guilty of slacking off as we are."

Her smile falters and she turns to leave. "I won't tell Nakamura-san--this time."

She stalks off and I'm left to my chores alone.

Oh, and I probably haven't explained exactly who Mihara is, exactly. She's not some famous person's child, but she was certainly spoiled beyond all reason by her parents, so she isn't that great of a worker. Her parents were killed a few months ago, but she still had not adapted to the daily and weekly routines here.

At sometime around noon, we finish the morning chores. The eight of us orphans and our caretaker, Nakamura-san, gathered around the table for lunch. If Nakamura-san noticed Hideo-kun's absence, he said nothing about it to us. He's not one to care for talking at the table, especially not about a subject as unimportant as an orphan running away.

Once we finish the poorly rationed food, we clean the table and dishes and begin the afternoon's chores. Our chores are rotated every week between us, so my chores for the week are to tidy up the bedrooms, make sure that the outside of the orphanage doesn't look bad, as well as anything that Nakamura-san asks me to do.

The rest of the day is without incident, and we do our chores just as we were taught to: without unnecessary sound. No talking, no slacking off, no looking at anyone passing on the street. We cannot coexist peacefully with the people outside this building, so we must keep to ourselves at all times.

We must be the ideal child: quiet at all times and causing no problems.

Yet, when one of us runs away, it is no big deal. Maybe because it's not Nakamura-san's problem, and it's less weight upon his shoulders when there are less of us. Less children means less food he has to dish out and one less soul he has to care for.

At dinner, it is just as it had been at lunch. The only words spoken by any of us are words of thanks for the food and apologies if we accidentally bump elbows with someone else. As soon as the meal is over, Nakamura-san leaves the cleaning to us as he retreats back to his room.

We go off to our rooms the moment the dishes are cleaned up and put away. There isn't much else we can do after that, as we have a nightly bedtime of seven o' clock, so sleep is the only plausible answer available. The boys all share a room together, though tonight there will be one less in their number, and the girls also share one room. The rooms aren't that big, but when there's only three or four of us in them, it isn't that big of a problem.

All of our futons lay side by side and we sleep in age order, with the oldest at the far right and the youngest at the far left. This put Ri-san on the right, followed by Mika, then me, and Mihara was to my left. I have to sleep next to the pranking little pest, but she doesn't do anything while she is sleeping, so it's not that much of a hassle. Ri-san snores, Mika kicks around, but Mihara just lies there.

The boys' room has a similar setup to ours, but I'm never in there unless I'm cleaning it. They keep it tidy, so there is never really much that I have to do in there, but I usually have to re-make their beds, since they don't always do quite a good job on them.

This is an average day in the orphanage. These types of days seem never-ending, which I think I'm okay with. But everything changes the day that I see a monster in the streets.

* * *

So, how was this chapter? It's still a little bland, but the action starts up in the next chapter, which is due tomorrow or Saturday. Maybe Friday, but I'll have to have it done tomorrow, since I work Fridays.

Review please! They really do encourage me to write more and they help to boost my self-esteem, since it's pretty low. I look forward to your feedback. -bows-


	3. Monster

Thanks so much for the reviews! This will [sadly] come to an end next chapter, so no longer will you have to be kept waiting for weeks for another chapter. Even though it's *technically* done. I just don't like the typing phase.

More OCs in this chapter, but this is it. Well, mostly. But stay with me, if you will.

Disclaimer: Do not own Bleach. Not even the cleaning kind.

Orphan

By Kouzumi93

Chapter 3: Monster

It's been a year since I documented about my daily life here in the orphanage. The routines have hardly changed, but the faces surrounding me have changed so much and so often that I've given up on trying to remember all of the names and faces to go with them. Mika and Neko-chan died a few months ago from a nasty illness that they had caught. Ri-san and Daisuke, who is a year older than her and is—was another 'original', had left one day to run an errand, and they never came back.

Only four orphans, including myself, have remained constant throughout the past year, but time hasn't particularly brought us any closer to one another. In fact, it's probably pushed us even further from each other's company, because as we're all getting older, we're trying to lessen the ties to everyone around us so we don't feel such a tremendous amount of pain when something happens to another. As a child, it's difficult to get by on your own, but the older you get, the more you realize that you really don't need people to be by your side all the time.

Today has, for the most part, started out just as any other day might have. Wake up, have a short breakfast with everyone and start on the morning's chores. The floors never really have to be cleaned as thoroughly as we make them, but Nakamura-san would notice if we slacked off at all, so I carry on as usual. After lunch, I find myself on outdoor cleaning duty, which is, in my opinion, the best set of chores that one can be required to do.

Especially around this time of year.

I step out into the afternoon sun and take a deep breath. We aren't allowed outside all too often, so the autumn air feels nice with its cool, light breeze brushing gently against my dirtied skin and yukata. I pick up the rake from its position behind the small building and begin to relocate the fallen, colourful leaves into one pile that I can manage with ease.

That's when I hear it.

Out of nowhere, a terrible roar that resonates throughout my entire being.

I look around in all directions, but I don't see it right away. Turning to the dirt road in front of the gate, I finally manage to see it. It's some sort of giant creature that stands taller than all of the surrounding buildings. From where I am, I can't see it completely, but it has what looks like scaly, tan flesh covering its body, sharp teeth and vicious looking claws. There is a large, gaping hole in its chest, but that seems to hinder it not.

It roars again, and I realize that something must be off. No one else has emerged from their homes to investigate the noise. There's not even anyone in the windows of any place I can see.

_Why?_ I wonder as I toss the rake to the ground frantically and dash into the orphanage.

A few other orphans glance up from their work to see why I've come in during chore time.

"What is it, Matsumoto-san?" Eleven year old Minami stands up from where she had been cleaning the faces of the very young ones and walks over to me.

As if on cue, I hear another roar. "Don't you hear that?" I ask, incredulous.

"Hear what?"

"That loud roar. There's some monster-like thing yelling outside and down the street a bit, but I can still hear it in here." No change in her expression. "Come with me!" I exclaim. She continues to stand there, unmoving. "Come on! I'm not lying!" I run outside.

Finally, Minami gives in and, along with a few of the other children who overheard, follows me through the door. They stop behind me when I come to a halt and point right at the creature. I notice that their eyes dart all around the area I pointed at, but none of them show even the slightest bit of fear, confusion or shock.

Minami glares down at me. "Matsumoto-san, please stop fooling around. _Some_ people have work to do." She and the others began to walk away.

"Wait! How can you tell me that you don't see that?!" I demand.

"How? That's easy. It's because there is nothing there." One of the others sneers.

"What is going on out here?" Some one asks.

I turn around to find Nakamura-san hovering over me like a bee to a flower.

"Matsumoto-san claims that there is some sort of monster out in the town somewhere, when it's plainly obvious that she's just vying for attention." Minami answers.

"I'm not vying for attention, you suck-up! There really is a monster there! Maybe it's just invisible to idiots like you!" I retort, rather angered that our caretaker is here. Now the situation is only likely to get worse.

"If it is invisible to idiots, then why can you see it?"

Nakamura-san glances at the area where the monster was, then turns back to me. "Matsu--!"

There's a loud crash in the town and we can see smoke rise from a destroyed building. I hear the monster roaring louder, almost as if it is in pain. I gasp.

Something is attacking the monster!

Of course, it just so happens that I managed to say that out loud. While I'm completely surrounded by people who are far less than enthusiastic about my so-called antics.

"Someone probably was fixing up their house and it collapsed on them." Nakamura-san said, more trying to reassure the other kids who were freaked out by now. "There's no such thing as monsters."

"But--!"

"I don't want to hear another word about it." With that, he begins to walk away.

"But it's there. I can see it." I mutter under my breath, thinking that he might not hear me.

He spins around. "Did you not hear me? I thought I just said that I did not want to hear another spoken word on this matter."

I gulp. "But...but I..."

"Matsumoto-san, I'm warning you. If you say another word, you will not be staying here for much longer."

I'm stunned. No one has ever really been kicked out unless they were eighteen. To kick me out over something as trivial as this would be absurd, but I can tell that he's serious. I clamp my mouth shut and fight back the tears of rage that threaten to fall.

There's another crash and I see something small clothed in black shoot out into the air from the cloud of dust that had formed. The monster yells out again and I see the sun glint off of something in the hands of the black-clad figure. Something that appears to be long and shiny.

It almost looks like the katana of a samurai, which I've seen once or twice.

The thing in black dives back into the dust cloud while bringing the sword down, and then there's a spurt of blood flying out of the cloud. The creature lets out one final howl as it dies. That cry echoes in my mind for a few minutes as I continue to stare onwards, awed at the bravery of that person. Surely an average person could never do something like that.

I must have ended up saying something out lout without realizing it again, for Nakamura-san is coming back at me. I instinctively tense up. I can't recall having said anything, but if I did, then he surely heard it, meaning the end of the line for me at this place.

"Did you say something, Matsumoto?" He asks, standing over me once again.

I slowly shake my head.

He cocks his head to one side. "Are you sure? Because I thought I heard you say something along the lines of 'That was amazing.' Didn't you?"

"I-I don't know. I might have." I respond in the worst way possible.

"You might have? You mean to imply that you 'absentmindedly' spoke of something that I just told you not to mention?"

What he asks sounds to me like a rhetorical question, so I stay quiet instead of answering. Another mistake that could—should have been avoided.

"So you have nothing to say, then? Che." He spits. "I'm sick of this defiant behaviour of yours, Matsumoto. I hope that you've enjoyed your time here, because it's probably the last bit of enjoyment you'll ever have!" I cower under his rage at first, but something in me suddenly snaps out of control.

"Why?"

"Hm?"

"Why is it such a problem that I'm talking about something that no one else can see? Who is it hurting? And what if one of the others could see those creatures over there? Would you kick them out as well?" I let out a dry laugh. "I'm sure you would like that though, wouldn't you?"

I don't look at the expression on his face. I'm afraid to. I know he's pissed off, and that worries me a bit. Before he can do anything, I make a run for it. As soon as I had made the decision to speak out, I knew I was gonna have to run. You couldn't talk back like that and get away with it. As I run, my rage grows stronger as the idiocy of the whole situation hits me like a ton of bricks.

I've been kicked out because I saw monsters that are invisible to everyone else, I say to myself. It's so absurd that I can't help but to find amusement in it. I start to laugh. I laugh loud and hard for what seemed like hours, but my sides soon hurt and I have to stop and rest.

After I've stopped, I look around to see where I am. I discern that I am no longer in that dingy old town. I don't recognise anything within my sight, and I don't see anything around that is able to give me a clue as to where I am. This place looks better from where I came from, but certainly not by much. The roads are still dirt, although the buildings don't look quite as rundown.

Well, at least it's better than being back at _that_ place. I decide.

* * *

And there you have chapter three! It's a *hell* of a lot later than anticipated, but I'm in a typing mood, so I figured I'd get this out there before it got abandoned. I'll try to have chapter four posted as soon as possible, but I won't make any promises. School is getting crazy, so I haven't been looking forward to sitting in front of a computer screen typing lately.

Let me know what you think of this chapter. Those reviews really did help, because I nearly forgot about this story. I got a new notebook (again), so I haven't been seeing this everyday saying 'Hey, type me!'

Thanks for your time!


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